Apparatus and method for shaving the inside of barrels

Abstract

An apparatus and method for shaving the inside of barrels. The invention relates to reconditioning used wine barrels by shaving the inside surface to a predetermined depth, ready for re-crozering, toasting, and re-use. Conventional shaving methods typically involve routing the internal surface by hand, but this technique is problematic in that it is a very slow process, the quality of the wood is often adversely affected, and there is no way of ensuring that the surface will be shaved to the same depth across the entire surface. The resultant internal dimensions of the barrel are not reflective, relatively, of the original barrel surface. The invention includes a scanning device to scan the internal dimensions of the barrel, and a cutting device to shave the internal surface to a predetermined depth relative to the scanned internal dimensions and where the scanning device and the cutting device may be supported by different robotic arms.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]The present application is continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12 / 271,367 filed Nov. 14, 2008.[0002]The present invention relates to barrel reconditioning and, in particular, to an apparatus and method for controllably shaving the inside surface of barrels. The present invention is intended for particular use on wine barrels, however, is not intended to be limited to such use.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]The applicant is the owner of a co-pending Australian patent application 2006202071 relating to the production of barrel staves. The contents of this co-pending application are incorporated by reference herein.[0004]Wine is traditionally aged in oak barrels. The oak is integral to aging and imparting certain flavours to the wines. Wine fermenting and aging in wood barrels extracts flavour components from the wood and leaves a residue of precipitated materials such as tartrates, fining agents or yeast. Wine processi...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention proposes an apparatus for shaving the inside surface of barrels using a robotic arm and a cutting means. The apparatus includes a scanning means to map the internal dimensions of the barrel and a cutting means to shave the inside surface to a predetermined depth. The scanning means and cutting means can move vertically inside the barrel to shave a portion of its surface with each pass. The movement of the scanning means and cutting means is controlled using a controller that receives input from a computing device with at least one movement parameter for each. The apparatus can be hydraulically or hydraulically driven. The technical effect of the invention is to provide a precise and efficient method for shaving the inside surface of barrels.

Problems solved by technology

Wine processing often leaves undesirable bacterial infections in the barrels for which there is no current remedy.

Over time (typically after two to three uses), all components which can be extracted from the oak will be, and the residue left in the wood can begin to sour or block the membrane exchangeability of the wood.

Although inadequate, however, these services remain available because they are able to remove a small amount of the barrel's inner surface for a very modest fee.

Conventional cutting devices suffer from some of the following drawbacks:Current techniques, particularly manual shaving methods, often result in uneven surfaces and do not provide a shaved surface that is reflective of the pre-shaved surface.Such techniques are also problematic because they do not ensure that all areas of the barrel are shaved to a depth where the exposed wood is uncontaminated from previous wine.The quality of the surface is often compromised using traditional shaving techniques.

Sometimes, the shaved surface requires sanding and this causes greater deterioration to the barrel surface because it grinds the exhausted wood into the pores of the newly exposed wood.

When the barrel is re-toasted, very undesirable “off” flavours are baked into the new surface.The time taken to completely shave the inside of a barrel is significant, given that this is often done manually.

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